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Green Stool

I have OALD and OS. My 6 week old son has had green mucus stool and a few blood tinged diapers too. I called my pediatrician and they didn't see it to be too much of a problem. I have read that OALD and OS can affect the color of the stool because of too much foremilk. How do I fix this problem? I nurse on one breast during a feeding then, switch to the other breast at the next feeding.
Also, because of my OS, I want to donate my breast milk to my sister who is due in September with her 2nd child. She has a VERY LOW supply of milk because of previous breast surgery. How do I collect the extra milk? I know I shouldn't pump if I have an oversupply. Any suggestions?

Re: Green Stool

My DS has the green mucus stool. In the beginning it was a light almost neon green color and frothy which i am sure was due to my OALD and OS (getting to much foremilk) He also go very gassy and upset at certain times of the day. Well now he is sick and his poop turned to a dark green mucus color. I talked to my Ped. as well and in the beginning she wasn't to concerned about it until he got sick. So in my opinion green poop can mean two things either to much foremilk or they might be fighting a bug. He started block feeding which I just learned about from LLL and his poop is still green but he is still fighting off this illness. Maybe try block feeding...I don't have any suggestion on pumping because i gave up on pumping because it was causing my OS and OALD and plus he as flat out refused to take a bottle. Good luck though and that great that you want to donate your milk to your sister!!!!

Re: Green Stool

About pumping with an oversupply - I had the opposite problem, so don't take my word as gospel, but I'd say if you have a good reason for pumping extra, it's OK to do it a little bit - as long as you're consistent. If you're taking the milk out regularly, you are giving your body the correct signals about how much you need.

However, it might be a good idea to get the oversupply under control a bit first, and THEN pump to collect for your sister. So I'd say it's probably a judgment call about how bad your oversupply issue is (the green poop might be a sign you should wait a bit first - is it frothy?).

Re: Green Stool

I too have oversupply and OALD and an almost 5 week old and a 2.5 yr old.

It seems like my previous nursing experience might help you: Luckily, I was very successful nursing my oldest (She just weaned last month at almost 2.5) but dealt with oversupply and OALD then too but never got mastitis (already have this time. I donated approximately 1 bottle a day starting at 5 months postpartum (sounds like starting to pump in Sept might work?) and until my daughter was 15 months. That is what seemed to finally help plus block feeding and the passage of time but I had to be consistent at the time and amount I pumped. Even though I had too much milk, I still began pumping slowly and worked up to the bottle amount. It only took a few minutes to pump that much so it wasn't too hard on me (the worst part was cleaning everything).
Good luck and that is so so sweet that you are helping.

Re: Green Stool

I too have had OALD and OS. My DS is 3 1/2 mo old. I would suggest block nursing as well .It is where you nurse for so long on one side ( I began at 7 hrs.) Then nurse the other side for 7 hrs. Every week to 10 days begin lowering by 1/2 hour. Do not get discouraged if it take a while to get your supply down, I have been doing this for about 8 wks. You should notice a difference in stool in 24-48 hrs, going to yellow and seedy. Your baby should also be much less fussy. Doctors and nurses tend to not be very well educated. I would recommend checking with your local LLL leader when you come into difficulties as well as your pediatrician. Good luck and hang in there. It WILL get better.

Re: Green Stool

As far as saving all that extra milk goes, do what I did... I'm also a one sided feeder with OS and OALD, so I got a Milk Saver (http://www.mymilkies.com/). I wear it on the side I'm not nursing on and it catches all that leakage! Before I went back to work I was freezing 8 oz a day without ever pumping! They're not cheap, but it's worth it when you think of how much of your bm is getting wasted into a nursing pad.